Democratic Hangover

With the thrill of passing a trillion dollar porkapalooza bill past them, it seems many Democrats are getting that queasy, hangover feeling as they wake up to the realization that they’re going to have to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions.

Newsweek’s Howard Fineman reports today that the “establishment” is already in major CYA mode, mumbling to him that Obama “may not have what it takes” and clearly trying to put distance between itself and the administration’s policies. It took Jimmy Carter years to reach this point. Unless windmills, solar cells and studies of pig flatulence can turn this economy around, there’s going to be a lot more “mumbling” coming from “the establishment.”

Even Democratic economists are raising doubts. As John Boehner’s excellent blog highlights today, they’re now saying that the stimulus won’t work as advertised.

“[A] leading Democratic economist, Mark Zandi, said that the Administration’s stimulus package would create 1 million fewer jobs than the White House has predicted.” And according to the Associated Press, “Allen Sinai, chief global economist at Decision Economics Inc., said Obama is too optimistic when he predicts that the recently enacted $787 billion stimulus bill will save or create at least 3.5 million jobs over two years.”

Of course, their solution is to spend even more. Soon they’ll be saying that Obama didn’t do it right and didn’t listen to their advice. If I were the administration, I’d be feeling pretty queasy now too.